Sexual Misconduct

Former CBS CEO  Leslie Moonves will not receive his $120 million severance package after the company’s board of directors determined he was fired “with cause” over sexual misconduct allegations. The board said Monday it reached its decision after finding that Moonves failed to cooperate fully with investigators looking into the allegations. The board also cited what it called Moonves’ “willful and material misfeasance,” violation of company policies and breach of his contract.

In the past 13 months, CBS has undergone a companywide reckoning in the wake of the #MeToo movement that has stretched from its morning show to its primetime lineup, its news division to its executive suite. Three powerful men at the company — Leslie Moonves, its chief executive; Charlie Rose, its morning show anchor; and Jeff Fager, the executive producer of 60 Minutes — have all lost their jobs because of workplace conduct.

CBS Corp. said Friday it would award $20 million that was originally earmarked for severance for its former CEO, Leslie Moonves, to 18 different organizations that work to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace.

CBS reached a $9.5 million confidential settlement last year with actress Eliza Dushku after on-set sexual comments from Michael Weatherly, star of the network’s show Bull, made her uncomfortable when she was beginning a run as a recurring character. Dushku was written off the show after complaining about Weatherly’s comments on her appearance and jokes involving sex and rape made in front of cast and crew in March of 2017.

CBS News reached a legal settlement with three women who accused the network of not doing enough to stop one of its anchors, Charlie Rose, from sexually harassing them. The three women had worked for CBS when Mr. Rose was a host of CBS This Morning and a correspondent for 60 Minutes.

CBS shareholders quickly elected 11 members of its revamped board on Tuesday before their annual meeting adjourned without discussion of an investigation into sexual-misconduct claims against former CBS CEO Les Moonves. The meeting wrapped up in less than 30 minutes.

CBS officials are unlikely to say more on the investigation into sexual-misconduct claims against former CBS CEO Les Moonves and the $120 million severance package on the line. The bigger task will come behind the scenes in the weeks to come.

Disgraced media mogul Les Moonves is threatening to sue CBS over recent leaks of lurid details about his alleged sexual misconduct. In what’s expected to amount to a breach of contract suit, Moonves’ lawyers are preparing to allege that leaks to the New York Times last week about CBS’s pending investigation into Moonves broke a confidentiality agreement and sullied the exec’s reputation, sources close to Moonves said.

Friday’s theatrical release of the documentary, Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes, puts his life story in the public eye again. Two other Ailes projects, a feature film from director Jay Roach and a Showtime miniseries, are also in the works.

Harvey Weinstein looked on as a judge agreed to dismiss the lone charge related to Lucia Evans, who helped spark the #MeToo movement a year ago when she told The New Yorker that the Hollywood mogul had forced her to perform oral sex in 2004 when she was a college student and fledgling actress.

Covington & Burling and Debevoise & Plimpton, the two outside law firms tasked with investigating claims of misconduct at CBS, have already interviewed more than 150 people, according to an email update sent to employees last week. Current employees, former employees and other “individuals with information pertinent to our investigation” have spoken to investigators.

In an open letter to Christine Blasey Ford, the broadcast journalist reveals that she was sexually assaulted in college by her doctor, the same doctor who delivered her.

A CBS executive has been placed on leave after multiple individuals spoke to CNN accusing the senior vice president of talent for CBS Televisions Studios, Vincent “Vinnie” Favale, of using sexual and homophobic language in the workplace.

Margaret Sullivan: Top CBS figures are gone, but we continue to live in the misogynistic world they helped create.

The longtime CBS News executive and 60 Minutes executive producer’s dismissal comes four days after CBS’s chief executive, Leslie Moonves, stepped down following numerous misconduct allegations.

While Leslie Moonves is the most powerful CEO brought down yet by sexual misconduct allegations over the past year, CBS is facing criticism for not pushing him out sooner, for thanking him in its announcement and for offering him a potential $120 million in severance. Others say his downfall still serves as a warning that even the most powerful bosses cannot hide.

CBS announced its chairman’s exit Sunday night, hours after The New Yorker magazine posted a story with a second round of ugly accusations against Moonves. CBS said $20 million will be donated to one or more organizations that support #MeToo and workplace equality for women. That sum will be deducted from any severance due Moonves, a figure that won’t be determined until an outside investigation led by a pair of law firms is finished. In addition, CBS’s board also announced Sunday that Redstone’s National Amusements will not propose a merger between CBS and Viacom, which Redstone had been urging, for two years. Six new CBS board members were also appointed.

The former CBS News and PBS journalist late Thursday filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by the former employees. He’s joining co-defendant CBS, which is also seeking to get the case thrown out of New York state court. Rose was fired by CBS and PBS last year for sexual misconduct.